The Desert Wind and the Shadow of the Leaves
by Chaos Drummer
Summary: Shikamaru is mourning the death of his sensei, but finds solace and even love in a friend from the Sand. ShikaTem. SPOILERS! Rated M for Language and violence for now.
1. A New Dawn and New Orders

**The Desert Wind and the Shadow of the Leaves**

**A/N:** While this is my first fanfic, please be realistic in any reviews you may be nice enough to give, with constructive criticism being preferred, and flaming being drenched with an appropriate level water-jutsu.

But seriously, if you see any grammatical mistakes, or perhaps screw ups with character names, backgrounds, etc., let me know, so I can try to fix it. Thanks.

**SPOI****L****ER WARNING**

The following fanfic will try to draw as much from the manga and the anime (especially from chapter 342 back, as this starts in Shippuden after the manga arc containing Hidan and Kakuzu) as I can. Therefore, parts of the plot of the manga and anime will be revealed. If you don't constantly keep up with the English-translated Japanese manga and anime (not the stuff you buy in stores or watch on American tv.) and you dislike spoilers, you may want to read something else. You have been warned.

**Disclaimer:** I do not in any way, shape, or form own or produce the Naruto manga or anime. I also receive no payment in any way from this story, as it's just for fun. My views about the characters do not reflect Masashi Kishimoto's views (as far as I know, anyway).

So without further ado…

* * *

**Chapter 1: A New Dawn and New Orders**

A new day was dawning over the village of Konohagakure; the first dawn that would not shine for two members of the notorious Akatsuki, Kakuzu and Hidan, who had both been defeated by a group of highly skilled Konoha shinobi. The scythe-wielding Hidan had even been defeated single-handedly by a chuunin by the name of Shikamaru Nara, who was able to trap the immortal so that he would never be able to escape the confines of his rocky pit as long as the Nara clan watched over that forest. He had avenged his sensei, the late Asuma Sarutobi, who was killed in combat by Hidan's curse.

However, the death of his teacher had affected Shikamaru, although he was trying not to show it to anyone. Similar to the aftermath of the Sasuke retrieval mission, he was left wondering that if he had perhaps been stronger, perhaps Asuma-sensei might still be alive. His dreams were also troubled of late, with Shikamaru revisiting the scene of Asuma's death night after night. However, this night's dreams were different; the normal Asuma death scene replaced with a vision of his former sensei urging Shikamaru to move on with his life and stop dwelling on the pains of the past, shifting to scenes of himself, Choji Akimichi, and Ino Yamanaka enjoying their (okay maybe just Choji's) favorite Barbeque restaurant. Then his dream took another twist, showing his last meeting with the oldest of the Sand Siblings, Temari. She had told him that he needed to hurry up and become a Jounin; that he could quickly do it if he would stop complaining and take his missions seriously. Tsk, how troublesome, being told how to act by someone even more fearsome and dominating than his mother. All of this was enough to wake up the lazy genius from his uneasy slumber.

"Hmmm…? What type of dream was that supposed to be?" remarked a sleepy Shikamaru, "Troublesome things…waking me up at…what time is it anyway?" Shikamaru glanced at his alarm clock, which revealed that it was much earlier than the shadow-wielder normally choose to wake. "What a pain! I'll never get back to sleep now, not with the morning sunlight pouring into my room." With that, Shikamaru climbed out of bed, took a relaxing shower, and then dressed up in his normal clothing and headed off to his favorite spot, to see what cloud watching opportunities would be presented for the day.

* * *

Unfortunately for the young ninja, the Godaime Hokage, Lady Tsunade, had other ideas for his day. After her aid, Shizune, discovered that Shikamaru was not at his parent's home, Tsunade had Choji brought to her, and gave him the task of finding the slacker-nin. Choji, having been friends with Shikamaru for a long time, immediately checked their rooftop cloud watching spot where they became friends when they were kids. Choji was dead on the first time, finding Shikamaru lying face-up, starring at the sky.

"Hey, Shikamaru!" yelled Choji.

"Choji, how are you?" replied Shikamaru.

"Great, although I'm afraid I'm going to have to ruin your day. Hokage-sama has been wanting to see you, as soon as possible, it seems." remarked Choji, nervously running his hand through his spiky hair.

"Oh great! Man, this is such a drag," complained Konoha's number one lazy ninja, "Might as well get going then. It'd be too troublesome to make Lady Hokage angry by forcing her to wait any longer." With that being said, Shikamaru ran off, leaping across rooftops in the direction of the Hokage's office.

* * *

Tsunade was on the verge of becoming highly annoyed when Shikamaru swung in through the side window, landing on his feet in front of the Hokage's desk.

"Shikamaru Nara reporting as ordered, Hokage-sama!" announced Shikamaru, slightly out of breath after the speed he used to make it to the Hokage's building so quickly.

"There IS a door you know," replied Tsunade, who cocked an eyebrow in amusement at the slacker's unusually energetic entrance.

"Choji implied that this was important, ma'am." remarked Shikamaru.

"Well, he was right. I have several matters to go over with you. Please, have a seat." said Tsunade, causing Shikamaru to grab the closest chair to him and sit down. "First off, I congratulate you on your remarkable accomplishment in single-handedly finishing off a member of Akatsuki. Even the strongest of our shinobi have problems fighting these criminals, and for a chuunin to defeat one by himself is a remarkable accomplishment. Therefore, for services to Konoha and outstanding excellence in the line of duty, I hereby promote you, Shikamaru Nara, to the rank of Jounin, effective immediately."

"W..w..wow….er t…thank you Hokage-sama," stuttered a bewildered Shikamaru, who was thinking, _'This can't be right. The original mission was an absolute disaster. I couldn't prevent Asuma-sensei from being…killed, or capture either Akatsuki member. The mission for revenge wasn't perfect either, as Kakashi-sensei got pretty beat up, and Naruto's right arm is in a cast and probably will be for a week or two. Why am I being rewarded?'_

Tsunade sensed his confusion and doubt, but nonetheless continued, "Second, with the Chuunin Exams fast approaching, we need a representative to go to Sunagakure to finalize everything required, and then escort the Sand Ambassador back here, to oversee the set-up for the exams. That representative will be you, Shikamaru, and there is no talking your way out of this, no matter how 'troublesome' you believe it to be . You leave tomorrow, so I suggest resting up, and foregoing any Jounin celebrations until your return."

"Understood, Hokage-sama." dully replied Shikamaru, who had a sneaking suspicion that the Suna Ambassador would be the quad-pony tailed blonde he had dreamed about much earlier in the day.

"Finally, I want you to stop blaming yourself for Asuma's death." This took Shikamaru by complete surprise, although Tsunade ignored this and continued, "Given the details of what happened, I doubt if even myself or Jiraiya would have been able to save him after Hidan's curse had been made. You did what you could, and even though you couldn't save him, you brought his murders to justice, which could bring no greater peace to Asuma and his memory. He entrusted his will of fire to you, Shikamaru, so don't waste in by wallowing in grief and regret. That's all I have to say. Dismissed."

Shikamaru was grateful for this show of support by the Hokage, and while he didn't quite believe all she had said, he still responded, "Yes Hokage-sama, and, arigato." He turned and exited her office, remembering to go through the door this time.

Tsunade smiled as the slacker left, but was soon disturbed by her "Jiraiya-is-'researching'-around-the-women's-hot-springs" sense, and thus went off, once again, to beat the ever-loving daylights out of the pervy sage.

* * *

Around this time, over in Sunagakure, the eldest Sand Sibling was being informed by the Godaime Kazekage, who happened to be the youngest Sand Sibling, that a Jounin from Konohagakure would be on his way to Suna to deliver some information on the Chuunin Exams that had to be finalized, and that she would meet him on the border of the Land of Wind. He also informed her, that she would be accompanying this Jounin back to Konoha to oversee the setup for the exams.

Therefore, Temari packed up her fan and other ninja tools, and headed out, dressed in her formal black kimono she was now wearing regularly, and headed off to the border. On the way, she wondered who this Jounin was, and why she couldn't just be the one who went between villages this time, which gave her the extra benefit of talking to her lazy guide again, who, although lazy, was a nice person to talk to when they weren't busy going over the procedures and requirements for this next round of Chuunin exams. She contemplated if he actually made Jounin like she told him to, but then dismissed the notion as silly, as she knew him well enough to realize he probably considered her directions as 'too troublesome' and went around with his normally lazy way of life. Oh well, her questions would be answered in a few days time.

**Chapter End**

* * *

Shikamaru – Man, what a drag! Why are you writing this troublesome thing anyway?

Chaos Drummer – Because it's fun and eliminates boredom?

Shikamaru – That's what cloud watching is for….

Chaos Drummer – Stop arguing, otherwise I'm make all the clouds disappear in my next fic. That goes for Shougi too!

Shikamaru – You wouldn't dare…

Chaos Drummer – I've got the keyboard! Mwuahahahahahaha!

Shikamaru – How troublesome…

**A/N: **Chapter 1 is done. Yay! I can't believe how many errors I found checking, and rechecking it. I hope I caught them all but I doubt it. Anyways, please review if you'd like. I'll try to put up Chapter 2 as soon as I can.

**EDIT:** I knew I didn't catch all the errors. Found an open sentence in the last paragraph and finished it up. And it seems I picked one ways spelling for Jounin (or Jonin as I've also seen it spelled) and then the other ways spelling Chuunin (Chunin being the alternative. So I changed all the chunins to chuunins to be consistent, and because chuunin and jounin seemed to be used a lot more.


	2. A Troublesome Start to the Mission

**A/N: **Pie is extremely delicious, especially Key Lime. It made a delicious snack while typing this chapter. So far, one review and three alerts at the time I'm posting this. You rock guys!

**Warning:** The following Chapter contains Might Gai and Rock Lee, being Might Gai and Rock Lee, overenthusiastic and quite loud. Some all caps sentences and over-use of exclamations points will occur. Sorry!

**Disclaimer:** Once again, I don't own anything about Naruto, or get paid for this, or express the same views as the Author.

* * *

**Chapter 2: A Troublesome Start to the Mission  
**

Shikamaru was trying to comply with Lady Tsunade's orders, but the news of his promotion was traveling fast, which was making it difficult to get home and get ready. He has the suspicion that Shizune had overheard Tsunade announcing his promotion, and had spread the news to everyone she came across. It was okay at first, just Choji and Ino running into him on the way to his house, congratulating him on his success, but now it was getting extremely ridiculous. He had to pass up several attempts at celebrations for his achievement, promising to attend when he returned. But the highlight of this embarrassment came when Might Gai and Rock Lee diverted from their daily 500 laps around the village to come and congratulate Shikamaru in a fashion only they could.

**Flashback Begins**

Shikamaru had just managed to extract himself from the latest attempt to throw him a party, this time by Kiba Inuzuka and the rest of Team 8 (although the one really pushing the party was Kiba). He left with a bad feeling that Kiba's party would leave him quite drunk and unable to handle that following day's events, but agreeing to attend when he got back was the only way to escape and focus on the upcoming mission. However, he wasn't able to run more than a couple blocks before two enormous dust clouds announced the entry of Guy and Lee, all decked out in their green jumpsuits and vests, and looking way to energetic for people who had been running as many laps as they had. Even more unbelievable was their apparently decision that now was a moment that could only be conveyed by yelling as loud as possible.

"Shikamaru-San! Gai-Sensei And I Just Heard The News!" exclaimed Lee with a voice so loud, Shikamaru would be amazed if half of the village didn't end up hearing this. "We Are Quite Happy For You And Your Achievement Of Being Promoted To Jounin! It Would Seem That Your Springtime Of Youth Is In Full Bloom!"

"I Couldn't Have Said It Better Myself, Lee!!" yelled Gai, in a voice even louder than Lee. "Shikamaru, A Jounin Must Strive To Accel In All Forms Of Combat And Jutsu, So How About You Come With Lee And I And Train In The Strong Fist Style Of Taijutsu!! I'll Even Give You One Of Our Awesome Workout Suits!!

"!That Is An Excellent Idea, Gai-Sensei!" yelled Lee, in an even louder voice than before.

"!!Thank You, Lee!!" Gai exclaimed. To Shikamaru, it seemed as if they were raising their voice with each change of speaker, like some excruciatingly painful shouting competition.

"YOU ARE WELCOME, GAI-SENSEI!"

"LEE!!"

"!GAI-SENSEI!"

"!!LEE!!"

Just as Shikamaru was contemplating which he would rather have, an industrial-strength set of ear plugs or a extra-sticky roll of duct tape, Naruto came up, curious about the source of all the commotion, and, taking pity on the highly troubled Nara, came up with a plan to help the Shadow Wielder escape.

"Yo, Shikamaru, I see you've been caught by the Bushy-Browed Pair in an over-zealous congratulation on your promotion." said Naruto, shocking Shikamaru in the knowledge that his promotion must be the worst kept secret in the entire Land of Fire if even Naruto knew about it.

"**Gai-Sensei!**"

"Yea, and I'm trying to figure out a way to escape. Just running away won't cut it, because they'd notice, and easily catch me. But all this racket is making it such a pain to concentrate and form a decent plan," replied Shikamaru.

"**Lee!!**"

"Way ahead of you. I've got a plan all figured out," assured Naruto. At that very moment, a crow dropped dead out the sky upon realizing that Naruto actually beat Shikamaru in formulating a plan to escape first. "All you'll need to do, Shikamaru, is create a shadow clone and leave it here as a distraction. They'll never notice it until it's too late and you're long gone. I'd have done it for you, but my arm is still in this stupid cast."

"**!Gai-Sensei!**"

"You know, that plan might actually work. Except, I never done a Shadow Clone before. Could you explain how it's done, Naruto?" asked Shikamaru.

"**!!Lee!!**"

"No problem, Shikamaru, you just…

A large flock of crows discovered the death of their kinsbird, and sent up such a call of sorrow that it drowned out the sounds of Gai, Lee, and everything else.

"…and that's how it's done," finished Naruto.

"**GAI-SENSEI!**"

"Arigato, Naruto. Alright, here goes nothing!" Shikamaru formed the hand-sign required for the jutsu. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu! (Shadow Clone Jutsu)" A perfect shadow clone of Shikamaru appeared, and was commanded to stay put, while the real Shikamaru quickly made his getaway, running as fast as he could back home.

"**AH, THE SPRINGTIME OF YOUTH, LEE!! WOULDN'T YOU JUST LIKE TO JOIN US, SHIKAMARU?!**" Gai asked, roughly slapping the Shikamaru-clone on the back, causing it to fall hard enough to disperse. "**A SHADOW CLONE?! LEE, YOU MAY HAVE JUST FOUND SOMEONE WORTHY OF THE CONNECTION OF RIVALS THAT MYSELF AND KAKASHI SHARE!!**"

* * *

Elsewhere, Kakashi sneezed and dropped the latest issue of "Icha Icha Tactics" onto the ground, causing Kakashi to cry and mentally beat himself up on being so careless as to besmirch a copy of the awesomely pervy text , while the one crow left out from the rest of the flock made a call that suspiciously sounded like "Baka."

* * *

So, Shikamaru left Gai and Lee to yell happily about the various applications of the "Springtime of Youth."

**Flashback Ends**

* * *

Shikamaru finally managed to get home, and was not surprised to open the door and hear…

"OOOOOOHHHH MY LITTLE SHIKAMARU IS ALL GROWN UP AND A JOUNIN!!" exclaimed Shikamaru's mother, Yoshino Nara, who was clearly excited that her only son was now an Jounin.

"Yes, we're very proud of you, Shikamaru," said Shikaku Nara, Shikamaru's father.

"We must celebrate this grand occasion. We'll need food, and music, and drinks appropriate for the occasion," rambled Yoshino, "and you can invite Choji and your other friends, of course, although we should keep this formal so you'll need…"

"Actually," Shikamaru interrupted, "we're not going to have any of that right now. I'm going to eat, pack my things up, and turn in early."

"SHIKAMARU NARA!" yelled an angry Yoshino, "You have just been promoted to Jounin. You must get over this laziness and sense that everything is troublesome. We ARE having this party because it's fitting, right Shikaku?"

"Eh?" muttered Shikaku, who had been trying to ignore Yoshino's rambling and subsequent rant.

"I said, right Shikaku?!" demanded a fearsome Yoshino, eyes full of domineering fire that would have made Kami flinch.

"Err, yes dear," replied a thoroughly whipped Shikaku.

"No, we're not. At least not tonight. I've a mission that will likely take me a few weeks or more that starts tomorrow and Hokage-sama wants me rested up before I leave," remarked Shikamaru, confident that upon hearing that her son's lack of enthusiasm in her party idea was stemming from an official order, his mother would have to give up.

He was right of course, as Yoshino had to give up on a party for that night, although telling Shikamaru there WOULD be one on his return. Then she cooked a dinner that was much fancier than usual, as she was still ecstatic over her son's promotion. The Nara's ate together, and then Shikamaru excused himself (because he'd be severely bitched at by his mother if he didn't, promotion or no) and went and packed a change of cloths, food, a packet of cigarettes (that he picked up on the way home) and his various ninja tools, including shuriken, kunai, and Asuma's trench knives. Then he took a quick shower (after all that sweating in dreadful embarrassment and following running would make anyone take another shower) and went to sleep.

* * *

Shikamaru woke up early the next morning, and, after dressing and grabbing a bite to eat, heading out towards the exit. He bid Izumo Kamizuki and Kotetsu Hagane good morning as he passed the village gate, and they wished him luck with his mission in return. He then headed off in the direction of Suna, at a decent pace, because he knew there was no use rushing, as it took a couple days to get there. He lit a cigarette along the way, because it would help him relax, and keep his thoughts from wandering over troublesome subjects like Asuma's death. What it didn't seem to prevent was his thoughts turning to Temari, wondering if she would perhaps be surprised when informed of his promotion.

* * *

Meanwhile, Temari reached the border of the Land of Wind, where she would set up camp and wait for the Konoha Jounin to arrive. _'This is such a drag_,' she thought to herself, becoming surprised that she was taking the tone of the slacker who had been in her thoughts on the way there. '_Oh well. Orders are orders, and Garra would kill me for abandoning my post just because I found the wait boring_.' Little did she know that the wait would be well rewarded upon meeting the 'Konoha Jounin.'

**Chapter End**

* * *

Gai – LEE!

Lee – GAI-SENSEI!!

Gai – LEE!!

Lee – GAI-SENSEI!!

Chaos Drummer – GAH! You two give me a headache! And if it wasn't for the fact that I know Lee is in love with Sakura, I'd swear the both of you were gay! Although, Gai, you've yet to prove to me otherwise….

**A/N: **There's Chapter 2 down.

**Edit: **Okay...so the last method I used to try to distinguish the differing levels of voices between Gai and Lee failed miserably, so I devised a new system! Here's how it goes. 1) Capital letter for the first letter in every word, followed by one exclamation point. 2) Same as before, but with two exclamation points. 3) Same but with an exclamation on either side. 4) Same with two exclamations on either side. 5) All caps and one exclamation. 6) All caps, two exclamations. 7) All caps, one exclamation on either side. 8) All caps, two exclamations on either side. 9+) The last eight steps but in bold.


	3. Ambush at the River's Edge

**A/N:** First off, while I would love to pretend that the reason it took me longer to post this chapter was that I had real life stuff to deal with…In reality, I got addicted to some new game (Project Torque) and thus couldn't pull myself away, especially around midnight or so my time, when I've been writing the chapters so far. Sorry!!

On the other hand, I got a favorite story, another alert, and two reviews!! You guys rock, and I hope I can live up to all of your expectations.

On another note, this update comes with some edits to the previous chapters; nothing in the way of content, just in a few details. First, I'm widening my spoiler warning, because I might use some stuff past chapter 342, contrary to what I had said before. I'm also changing how I mark increases in volume for the Gai and Lee flashback. Finally, I'm changing Chapter 2's title. It's too long, and generally, I think I did better with this new one.

Now just for the usual…

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto, or get paid for my work, or express the same views, yadda yadda, pie is tasty…see chapter one for the full disclaimer…

…and now all of my boring stuff is done. Enjoy the new chapter!

* * *

**Chapter 3: Ambush at the River**'**s Edge**

At the Hokage's office, Tsunade was up working late, in an attempt to keep Shizune from nagging even more about the backlog of paperwork. She had been tending to Jiraiya, after breaking his right shoulder, left wrist, and three ribs as punishment for his 'research.' As he was in no risk of dying, because his injuries didn't include ruptured organs this time, Tsunade had planned on leaving the hospital and heading off to the sake bar for a well deserved drink. However, she was intercepted by Shizune, and sent back to work.

"I really hate all this paperwork," Tsunade complained, "I should probably break Jiraiya's other shoulder for failing to mention it before I accepted the position. Well, it won't do itself, so I might as well start at the top and work my way down." She grabbed an important looking report from the top of the massive pile, and flipped oven the cover. "Huh? ANBU reports that missing-nin have been spotted near the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of the River. That's not important, as any rouge ninja foolish enough to cross into Fire territory would be eliminated, and they're no threat while they stay in the Land of the River." With that, she tossed the report and picked up another, not knowing that the two-day-old information she just read would have been useful to a certain Konoha Jounin currently traveling to the Land of Sand, which required one to cross the Land of the River.

* * *

Shikamaru had been traveling for over a day. The day before, he had made good time, and setup camp around nightfall, as he wasn't required to hurry, and thus did not need to travel at night. He ate one of his travel rations, smoked a cigarette and went to sleep, to be disturbed by similar dreams to the nights before. Unknown to him however, was that he was not alone; a pair of menacing eyes had watched the shadow ninja's encampment through the night, and was now covertly following him, waiting for the best time to strike.

* * *

Temari wonder how long it would take the Konoha Jounin to make it to the border of the Land of Wind. She had been here two days now, and was kind of annoyed at the prospect of having to wait as long again. Then, a brilliant idea struck her. She bit her right thumb and chanted, "I, Inu, Tori, Saru, Hitsuji!" while making the coinciding hand signs, then placed both hand on the ground, left hand over right, shouting, "Kuchiyose no Jutsu! (Summoning Jutsu)" A small weasel appeared with a puff of smoke, and looked up inquiring at Temari. "Hello, my little friend," said Temari, "I need you to head out in the general direction of Konoha, and look for any Leaf-ninja that seem to be heading towards Suna. Come back to me when you do." With her command understood, the weasel ran off at incredible speed, leaving Temari to proceed with making some breakfast.

* * *

Shikamaru had been making an excellent time. It was midday, with about another hour or so to the border of the Land of the River, when he found a river across the direction he was traveling. Upon discovering that the water was safe to drink, he decided that he could stop and have lunch, wash-up, and refill his water canteen. The ninja following him noticed the location, and ran a mile upriver. He quickly walked out to the water, performed several hand signs and yelled "Suiton: Taiga Sekitomeru no Jutsu! (Water Style: River Damming Jutsu)" The river water began to build up rapidly beneath him, while the water running downstream towards Shikamaru drained to nothing.

Shikamaru was quick to notice the sudden change in the river's behavior. Deducing that it could mean nothing good, he decided on his plan of action. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu! (Shadow Clone Jutsu)" Two shadow clones appeared, and Shikamaru commanded one to stay where he was, to serve as a decoy, another to scout upstream, while he would also go upstream but father away from the riverbank, up in the trees.

The scouting Shikamaru clone soon found out the cause of all this trouble. A Kirigakure ninja, probably a rouge ninja, being this far from the Land of Water, was maintaining a hand sign on top of a giant wall of water that was still building. Apparently, it had been raised high enough because the ninja made a few more hand signs and yelled, "Seki Kai: Kaimetsutekina Demizu! (Dam Release: Catastrophic Flood) The large buildup of water burst forth all at once, with the exception of a column of water where the Hidden Mist-nin stood, and went forth, causing a devastating flood, wiping out the scout clone, and rushing downstream, soon destroying the decoy clone as well. The real Shikamaru was safe however, as he was high enough up in the trees past where the water was released. With the info gained from the clones' dispersal, Shikamaru knew that the ninja was definitely an enemy and that he had just released a large scale attack, in the hope the Shikamaru would be caught off-guard. This meant that the enemy must be somewhat tired, and that Shikamaru would have the advantage if he ambushed the enemy now. However, the enemy obviously used water-jutsu, so fighting him by a river gave his enemy a long term advantage. Shikamaru decided that the best thing to do would be to force the enemy away from his water source. To do this, he created a third shadow clone, and sent it off as a decoy to draw his enemy into the forest while he followed from behind. However, while he had been formulating his plan, he had been spotted by a small weasel, which, upon seeing him, quickly ran off back toward its summoner.

* * *

His name was Sekurou, and he was now angry his ambush had failed. The missing-nin from Kirigakure had soon found out the ninja he had been tracking and had rushed up to him was a mere shadow clone. He supposed he shouldn't had blocked the river completely, so as not to clue in the Konoha shinobi, but it would have made his attack so much weaker. '_Brother Taigarou will be very displeased,_' he thought. Just as he was contemplating how to find his prey again, the very same ninja jumped from the trees, and tossed 3 shuriken from each hand and crossed the river to the other side of the forest. '_So, trying to lure me away from my water source, huh?_' he thought, while dodging the attacks, '_We'll see about that._'

* * *

Shikamaru knew his plan was working. His clone was leading the missing-nin away from the river and into the Land of the River, with Shikamaru behind his target. He figured he'd continue this chase for another few hours and then spring the trap he was now formulating. If everything went right, there wouldn't be a need for a second attempt; his enemy would be dead at the trap's end.

* * *

The weasel Temari had summoned was back before she expected. She knew it was extremely fast, but to have found a Leaf-nin heading this way so quickly…He couldn't be more than a day or so away. She listened to the weasel's report in squeaks and squeals, and was startled to hear that the leaf-nin was currently engaged in combat with a mist-nin. "Lead me to where they are! We must get there as quickly as possible!" yelled Temari, while quickly packing up her camp. She grabbed her fan and pack and quickly ran off after the weasel, leading her at a pace she could follow.

**Chapter End**

* * *

**A/N:** Nope, no character arguments after chapter end this time, just me. Sorry again about the time it took for this chapter to come up. It took a bit longer to write it, although it's still slightly shorter than the last one. I've been thinking several chapters ahead here, and had to make sure everything would fit.

On another note, how do you like my invented jutsu? I even went through the trouble to find a proper translation into romaji for it. I've been using Jeffrey's Japanese-English Dictionary for the translations, and it seems to be accurate, but I'm sorry if it's not quite 100 percent. I also doubt the grammar is good, because I had to look up individual words and put them together. The characters Sekurou and Taigarou are also inventions of mine. Their names are supposed to mean "Dam son" and "River son", but I made them out of a word for Dam and River and tacked rou on the end, which was supposed to mean son. So they're probably inaccurate, but oh well. If you also noticed, all Jutsu are now being typed with their name in romaji, and the English style in parenthesis.

That's all the boring babble I have right now. I'll get to work on the fourth chapter now, maybe even having it up by the end of the day.


	4. An Akward Reuniting

**A/N:** Okay, so I tried to get this done as soon as possible, but I had writer's block upon looking at this blank white word document. So I slowly whittled it away, with what time I had between school, homework, etc. Got another three reviews, 3 favorite stories, and 3 alerts, so thanks go out to the people who gave them. Let's get this started then, eh?

**Disclaimer:** For the fourth time, I don't own Naruto!

* * *

**Chapter 4: An Awkward Reuniting**

Shikamaru was done thinking. His hands left his habitual circle that he formed when deep in thought. He had his plan. He would need eight well placed kunai to pull it off, and the ability to make sure the mist shinobi didn't catch on before the trap was finished. '_It's almost time,_' he thought, '_I may not get another chance, so this has to be perfect first time._'

* * *

Sekurou was extremely angry. He'd been chasing the leaf-nin for hours now, and was nowhere closer to catching him. '_How long does this fucker think he can run away for?!_' he thought bitterly. '_Taigarou will have my head if he finds out how long this took._' As he tried to figure a way to catch up with his target, Shikamaru sprang the trap!

* * *

Temari was traveling as fast as possible without flying, as that would disorient her guide. She was several hours within the borders of the Land of the River, and was hoping she was close to her leaf ally. '_Please let me make it in time,_' she hoped.

* * *

Shikamaru had his clone quickly switch directions and launch at the rouge mist ninja. The clone threw four shuriken from each hand, all aimed at vital points.

Sekurou took in a deep breath, make some quick hand signs while thinking, '_Suiton: Suijinheki! (Water Style: Water Encampment Wall)_', and spit out a wall of water, blocking all the projectiles. Sekurou then made a tiger hand sign and yelled, "Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu! (Water Clone Jutsu)" The water from his defense formed into a clone, and attacked the Shikamaru clone with Taijutsu.

The shadow clone dodged the attack and landed a kick on the water clone, dispersing it. It didn't notice Sekurou sneaking right up behind it, however.

"TOO LATE!" Sekurou yelled, while forming hand signs. "Suirou no Jutsu! (Water Prison Jutsu)" The water from the clone became a cage around the shadow clone, and as Sekurou was close enough, he had his hand inside that cage, keeping the prison intact. "You're mine now!"

"I wouldn't be too sure about that!" came a voice from somewhere close.

"What the? SHOW YOURSELF!" roared Sekurou in anger.

"It must be troublesome, but that isn't actually me you've caught," said Shikamaru, appearing from the shadows. "You actually caught one of my shadow clones. It was a pain having to use them, but they worked well into my plan." Shikamaru dispelled the clone. "What's your next move?"

"DAM YOU!!" yelled the mist-nin. "I'LL KILL YOU!!" Water began emitting from the ground around them.

'_What?!_' thought Shikamaru, '_I didn't think he'd be a high enough level to be able to draw water out from the surroundings here. This will make the plan more difficult…_'

Sekurou laughed maniacally, while making several hand seals. "NOW YOU DIE!! Suiton: Daibakufu no Jutsu! (Water Style: Grand Waterfall Jutsu)" A large blast of water wiped out everything in front of him, including, it seemed, the Konoha Jounin.

* * *

Temari heard the explosion. "What was that?!" she asked aloud. "Can you take me to where that explosion came from?" She asked the weasel summons. A squeak of reply told her that it could. "Let's go then, we're awfully close. I just hope we're not too late!"

* * *

"HAHAHA! I finally got you motherfucker! Rest eternally in a watery hell!!" yelled a triumphant Sekurou.

"Nah, that's way too troublesome for the moment." replied the slacker-nin. Following his words was a barrage of four kunai, aimed so that they wouldn't hit the rouge-nin, but remind him what a bad spot he was actually in. "You took out another shadow clone. You can't have much chakra left, as that seemed to be a pretty hefty attack, similar to the one you tried to ambush me with earlier. Why did you do that for anyway?"

"FUCK YOU" yelled the missing-mist ninja, as he threw four kunai of his own, which Shikamaru easily knocked back with four shuriken, causing the kunai to fall back near Sekurou.

'_Hmmm, four less kunai that I'll have to throw myself,_' thought Shikamaru. '_He won't be pleasant on his own, let's see how he acts after this._' Shikamaru drew one of the trench knives from his pack, charged it with chakra and threw it at his target.

"Is that the best you can do?!" Sekurou jeered as he ducked under the blade. "I've seen academy students that threw…! WHAT'S THIS?! I CAN'T MOVE!!"

"Kagemane Shuriken no Jutsu (Shuriken Shadow Imitation Jutsu), successful," said the shadow-wielder. "I'll ask you again. Why did you attack me?"

"Go to hell!" yelled the pissed rouge ninja. "Just wait till I get out of this, you fucking bastard! I'll kill you!!"

"Fine. Since I can't be sure you won't attack, I'll just have to finish it…"

"STAY AWAY FROM HIM, MIST-NIN!" yelled a running, battle ready Temari, iron fan closed and prepared to be used as a club.

'_Tsk. Troublesome woman,_' though the slacker. "Kagemane no Jutsu! (Shadow Imitation Jutsu)" He caught Temari's shadow with his own, causing her to stop in her tracks. "You're a little late if you were tying to help, so don't think this places me behind in the number of favors," Shikamaru jested.

"Oh, so you can take care of yourself now, eh Crybaby?" Temari jabbed back in response.

"Watch and find out, because your appearance doesn't screw up my attack, just where it comes from," responded Shikamaru. "Kageyose no Jutsu! (Shadow Summoning Jutsu)" Multiple shadows extended from Temari's body, grabbing all eight kunai, and bringing them near the neck of the Mist-nin. "I'll give you one last chance. Explain yourself," Shikamaru demanded.

"FUCK YOU!! I'LL SEE YOU IN HELL WHEN BROTHER TAIGAROU AVENGES ME!!" roared Sekurou.

"So be it…" Shikamaru had all eight kunai brought up with his shadows, and impaled in the neck of his enemy, right above the shoulders. He then released both jutsu he was maintaining, and wiped his forehead with the back of his hand. "Whew! I'm beat, but it's probably unwise to stick around here, so let's keep heading towards the border.

"...Yeah," was all a stunned Temari was able to mutter. She knew he was a genius with a brain that could rival and even outthink her own, but she never had seen him like this. '_Maybe he's grown up a bit since I've seen him last,_' she wondered, as they headed towards the border.

* * *

Once they reached the border of The Land of Sand, the pair took a break, as it was almost sundown anyhow. Shikamaru went to gather some wood for a fire while Temari broke out some rations from her pack. They quietly ate their meal, with their silence ensuing after they finished. Temari was quite bored of the silence, so tried to strike up a conversation. "So," she said, "what's new with you Shikamaru?"

No response.

"Shikamaru??"

There was still nothing in any form of reply.

"OI! SHIKAMARU!" yelled an annoyed Temari, looking over at the slacker, to find him sound asleep. 'Well, of all the…he didn't even set up his camp,' thought the Sand kunoichi. '_Tsk. Lazy bum. I wonder if I should give him a nice wakeup call with my fan. But, then again, he's being fighting hard today. I'll let him slide…for now._' She put out the campfire, and crawled into her own tent, and went to sleep.

**Chapter End  
**

* * *

**A/N:** Sorry about the even shorter chapter this time, but it was either that or I might be other week before updating. So I figured, better something than nothing. I'll try to write the next chapter as fast as I can. On another note, almost 700 hits. You all rock!


	5. Sandstorm

Temari - Hey, slacking writer. Get off your lazy butt and put out another chapter!

Chaos Drummer – Oi, I've been legitimately busy. Leave me alone.

Temari – I'll legitimately kick your ass if you don't sit in that seat, pull up that keyboard and type until you finish this chapter.

Chaos Drummer – _Now I see why Shikamaru calls her troublesome. Hang on a sec… _Yo, Shikamaru? Where are you?

Shikamaru – zzzzzzzz

Chaos Drummer - ….if I going to get yelled and bitched at, you're not going to be getting off easy either.

**A/N:** I am so sorry that I haven't updated in over a month. I've been busy with school, and competition, so when I did feel like writing I ended up only with energy and ideas to type out a few lines. But competitions are over with, for good actually, so I can find time to write now! So, I've gotten more feedback, although I've lost track over the time period. Sorry. Oh, and I should probably refine my summary here soon...Anyway, back to the story, eh?

**Disclaimer:** Read…my…lips…I don't own Naruto! So stop sticking the FBI-ninjas on me!

* * *

**Chapter 5: Sandstorm**

Temari woke up to find that Shikamaru hadn't moved an inch since she went to sleep. '_Lazy bum,_' she thought slightly annoyed, '_I think I'll have some fun after all!_' She pulled her fan from her tent and held it straight out horizontally above Shikamaru's chest, before yelling, "Look lively, Shikamaru!! We've got enemies!!"

"Huh?!" muttered the leaf-nin, as he quickly sat up, his heading running straight into Termari's waiting fan! "OW!!" yelled the poor slacker, who now had a wicked headache. "What the hell?! Trying to give me a damn concussion, devil woman?!" he cried in pain.

"Oh, you'll get over it, Crybaby, so suck it up!" yelled a humored Temari, who went about fixing breakfast and some instant coffee.

"Gah, you're such a pain! Literally and physically this time," moaned Shikamaru.

"You've yet to feel how painful my fan can really be, so I would stop whining," remarked Temari, while handing him a water canteen and some headache medicine.

"Thanks, I think," he replied.

"So, when did you get so serious in combat? I was under the impression you found it 'Too troublesome' to expend more energy than absolutely necessary," asked Temari in an attempt at continuing conversation.

No response.

Temari looked up from preparing the ration meals, to see that Shikamaru was neither asleep nor watching clouds. He was just starring off into space, like he had been reminded of something that made him stop and think, although she couldn't read any emotions. She wondered if it was some sort of touchy subject, and decided not to pursue a response. When the coffee finished, she poured him the first cup, and tapped him on the shoulder. "Here, although I didn't put any sugar or creamer in it, but I have some in my pack if you want it," she said softly.

"Arigato," he muttered, as he began to drink it straight black.

'_There must be something wrong with him,_' Temari thought, '_I've never known him to drink coffee straight black. I'll ask him later though. He doesn't look in the mood to talk._'

After finishing their coffee, they ate their meals and began journeying towards Suna, soon crossing into the Land of Wind.

* * *

Temari was still bored three hours after they packed up and started traveling. Shikamaru was been stock silent, as they ran across the desert. She was now diffidently sure something was up; Shikamaru would always have something to say, even if it was just another one of his annoying comments about men and women that would always either piss her off or make her laugh at their stupidity. In fact, his silence was close to unnerving to her. Suddenly, her process of thought was broken, as said subject spoke up.

"Temari, is it alright with you if we take a quick break. It's been three hours in this blazing sun," complained Shikamaru.

Normally, Temari would have told him to suck it up, but since Shikamaru ending his silence was a welcome change to the quiet monotony, she agreed, and they came to a stop.

"Thanks, Temari," Shikamaru said, as he drained what water was in his canteen.

"Don't mention it," she replied, biting off a piece of a ration bar. "Speed is not critical here, so we can afford to stop and catch our breath."

Shikamaru was trying to get the last of the water out of his canteen before giving up to the solid fact that it must be empty. "Temari, do you have any extra water left? My only canteen is flat dry."

"Yeah, I've always got a spare or two. It's quite useful to do so in a climate such as the desert." she said, handing him a canteen. "So, I was told I was to escort a Jounin, yet you show up. Does this mean that the great slacker has finally applied himself?"

Shikamaru merely nodded, attempting to curb the pleasure he knew Temari was receiving from her new found knowledge that he had ended up doing something she told him to after all.

"That's great Shikamaru! Congratulations!" Temari cheered, as she gave him a friendly hug.

In an instant, Shikamaru began to look like he'd be out in the desert sun for a week or so, as he blushed at the type of contact he was currently receiving from a source he would have never thought of. Sure, he had been hugged by his parents, and Ino, but they were family and teammate, respectively. To have this style of contact, from someone outside of those crucial bonds, even in a friendly sense, was something different than anything Shikamaru had encountered before. All he could manage to spilt out was a stuttered, "Th-thank you, Temari."

Temari noticed that Shikamaru got really nervous when she hugged him, so as not to embarrass him further, amusing as it might be, she keep the conversation on a safer course. "So, have you celebrated at all yet?"

"No, wasn't a chance to, 'cause I had to leave for this mission straight away," he replied.

"Hmmmm….we'll have to see what we can whip up when you get some free time during your stay in Suna."

'_Great…wonder what will happen at this particular party. Why couldn't I have stayed a chuunin?_' he thought.

"Anyway, that's enough of a break, lazy," said Temari, jerking Shikamaru back into reality. "We need to get moving, or we won't get to Suna by sundown."

"Yea," he replied, turning around towards where they were heading. However, while he whipped about, he noticed a strange cloud off in the distance. It was touching the ground, yet going high into the air, and had neither a grey nor white color. In fact, if he had to guess, he would say it was made of sand. "Yo, Temari, take a look over there and please tell me that ISN'T what I think it is."

Temari took a short look, and grimaced. "This is what you would call 'troublesome', Shikamaru. That's defiantly a sandstorm, and by the look of it, it's heading our direction and towards Suna as well. Just great. We should get moving quickly. If we're lucky, we'll be able to outrun it, but if it gets too close, we'll have to set-up camp and ride it out. That's way safer than attempt to wander around blindly in it."

"Agreed, let's get moving then." said the shadow-nin.

* * *

After an hour and a half of ninja-style running, it was obvious that the storm was going to catch them. Temari decided that it was time to set up camp. However, some problems arose with this decision.

"What do you mean you don't have a tent to pitch up?" she asked, angrily.

"Look, does it look like I've been carrying a tent packed up with my other stuff? No, 'cause it and most of my other non-combat gear got flooded away when that damned mist-nin attacked me!" he roared in his defense.

"Damn it! I guess we're going to having to ride it out in my tent. It'll be cramped, because its not built for two, but I can't let you potentially die either. Not only will I fail my mission of getting you to Suna safely, but I also will have failed at forcing some common sense upon you concerning the actualities of "gender roles" to straighten out your masculine-centric ideals."

Shikamaru wasn't exactly thrilled with the prospect of spending anywhere from a few hours to a few days stuck in a cramped tent with Temari of all people. He'd probally do something to upset her, and not survive the outcome. "Couldn't you just blow it away with a wind-jutsu?"

"And risk blowing it in the path of unwary travelers who weren't expecting the sudden course shift? This isn't that extreme of a case to call for that," she replied. Of course this wasn't completely true, as it was unlikely that they would hurt anyone by diverting the storm, but Temari was still unhappy with Shikamaru at that moment, and thought that forcing him to be uncomfortable could potentially be a lot of fun. "Come on! We need to get this tent up quickly!"

'_What a drag,_' thought the slacker, as he assisted in preparing their shelter. '_This is so troublesome._'

They finally got the tent up after some bickering, and repeated instances of Temari beating Shikamaru over the head with her tessen. Shikamaru noted that this tent was merely a smaller version of ones that his old genin team and other teams, such as Team 8 used. It would be a little cramped, but not actually that bad. They crawled in the tent, zipped out and further secured the entrance, and prepared to wait out the storm. Shikamaru noticed that Temari was fishing in her pack for something, and just about as he was beginning to wonder what the something was, she pulled out identical pairs of shaded goggles. These were not the bulky things that Shikamaru remembered Naruto wearing back at the academy, but very sleek, with small circular black tinted lenses, and silver rubber finishing out the frame and strap. They looked extremely similar to goggles that some athletic swimmers would wear.

"Here," said Temari, handing him a pair, "These will keep any dust that might still get into the tent out of your eyes. I'd also suggest covering your mouth with something. A forehead protector would work wonders," she added, as she untied her own headband and tied it around her mouth instead.

'_Just great,_' Shikamaru thought. '_I don't have a full forehead protector. I've just got the plate sewn on my arm. However, if I take the cloth from my shuriken holster and use that, I should be fine._' After he had his mouth covered, Temari motioned for him to take a nap while she kept awake in case some emergency occurred. She would switch up the watch in 2 hours.

So, the pair laid in wait, in hope that the storm would quickly pass.

**Chapter End**

* * *

Shikamaru – Why did I have to get beat up so much, eh?

Temari – Simple. You slept far too long during a mission and bitched and moaned while preparing for the sandstorm. Suck it up, Crybaby!

Chaos Drummer – I told you that I wasn't letting you off easy….slightly evil chuckle

**A/N:** Finally this chapter is done. I'll try not to let another month pass before the next one.


	6. Message from Author

Temporary Message from the Author

**Temporary Message from the Author**

So….yea….Hi all! Sorry for the giant length of time that has passed since the last chapter…I've had quite an interesting last three months. Finally had sense to go back out with the girl I truly love (to put it simply, I was too lazy and it bit me in the ass), took her to the senior prom, graduated high school, had a hard drive crash that wiped out my copies of the chapters (and the moves I'd made up, AND the bookmarks for the translation site I was using…damn), worked a bit, went through an hard process of my love getting into the army, had to let her go to basic training, and then had my 18th birthday. So, now I have all this free time on my hands once again…except when I'm writing letter's to her obviously…So, I'll be working to get another chapter up here. It might take a week or too, cause I've got to read through the story thus far, and any messages that got sent to me, s on and so forth, and then decided where to take the story from here.

So, that's what's going on, and when the new chapter is done, I'll remove this message, so as to not put a gap in the story.


End file.
